Lamp socket



y 1965 R. B. MEYER ETAL 3,183,475

LAMP SOCKET Filed Dec. 20, 1962 I N VENTORS Robe/'2 5. Meyer Samue/A. H'ad/ey ATTRNEYS United States Patent 3,183,475 LAMP SOCKET Robert B. Meyer and Samuel A. Findley, Bronson, Mich, assignors to Kingston Products Corporation, Kokomo, Ind, a corporation of Indiana Filed Dec. 20, 1962, Ser. No. 246,064 7 Claims. (Cl. 339-188) This invention relates to improvements in lamp sockets and more particularly relates to a new and improved lamp socket for use in automotive vehicles.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved form of socket construction particularly adapted for lamps for automotive vehicles and arranged with a view toward utmost simplicity and efiiciency in construction and assembly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel form of socket construction in which the socket body is made from a stamping and in which the socket body forms a stop and indexing means for the contacts of the socket and retains the contacts of the socket in alignment with the terminals of the socket assembly.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a simplified and improved form of socket construction particularly adapted for the lamps of automotive vehicles having a stamped socket body having stop and indexing means for the terminal base and contact carrying insulator for the socket, stamped therein for interengagement with the terminal base and contact carrying insulator.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a socket body construction made from a stamping, in which the contacts are carried in an insulator cup spring biased toward the lamp receiving end of the socket and in which the insulator cup is indexed and retained to the socket body by a simplified form of interengaging stamping and recess construction.

These and other objects of the invention will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation of a socket constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention with certain parts broken away and certain other parts shown in longitudinal section;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the socket looking at the terminal end of the socket;

FIGURE 3 is a development of the socket body showing the socket body in its flat form after stamping but prior to formation of the socket body in its cylindrical form;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary transverse sectional View taken substantially along line IV-IV of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along line VV of FIGURE 1 with the biasing and current conducting springs removed; and

FIGURE 6 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along line VI-VI of FIGURE 1.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing, we have shown in FIGURE 1 a socket body 10 made from a stamping and generally cylindrical in form and having an open terminal end portion 11 closed by a base 12 having spade terminals 13 extending therefrom. The socket body It also has a lamp socket end 15 for a lamp 16, generally indicated by broken lines. The lamp socket end 15 has spaced bayonet joint-like slots 17 and 18 opening to the lamp socket end of said socket body and extending axially and laterally along said socket body to receive and retain the lamp 16 in place, in a conventional manner.

As shown in FIGURE 3 the socket body 10 is stamped from a metal plate 26 and has the bayonet joint-like slots 17 and 18 stamped therein. The plate also has a 3,183,475 Patented May 11, 1965 gibbed tongue 19 projecting from one side thereof adapted to have interengagement with a corresponding groove 21 formed in the opposite side thereof, to lock the socket body in its cylindrical form when formed to the form of a cylinder.

The plate also has a series of elongated embossments 22 extending therealong for a portion of the length thereof and opening toward the lamp socket end 15 of the socket body. The embossments 22, are relatively shallow and serve to guide and slightly space the lamp 16 from the wall of the socket, when inserted in the socket, and to hold the lamp relatively rigid within the socket.

The base end of the plate 20 has spaced tangs 23 extending therefrom and formed integrally therewith and bendable into corresponding recesses 24, 24 formed in the base 12, for staking said base to the socket body.

The plate further has an embossment 25 extending therealong for a portion of the length of the socket body, when formed to its cylindrical form, and terminating at the base end of the socket body. The embossment 25 is on the same side of the plate as the embossment 22, 22 and serves to index the base with respect to an insulator cup 26 and also serves to guide said insulator cup for movement along the socket body. Current conducting and biasing springs 27, 27 bias the insulator cup towards the lamp socket end of the socket body and are seated between the base 12 and contacts 29, 29 slidably carried in a closed end wall 39 of the insulator cup 26.

The socket body plate 2% also has a round or spherical embossment 31 projecting inwardly therefrom when the plate 21 is in its cylindrical form and registrable with a slot 33 formed in a wall of the insulator 26. The slot 33 terminates into a shoulder 35 at the end of the insulator cup adjacent the base 12 and is engageable with the embossment 31 to form a stop for said insulator cup to limit movement thereof towards the socket end of the socket body.

The socket body plate may be rolled to a cylindrical form after the embossing and punching operations have been performed, and the gibbed tongue 19 may be engaged with the gibbed groove 21 to retain the socket body in its cylindrical form. The socket body plate 20 may be made from brass or from various other desired metals, and the gibbed tongue 19 may be brazed to the gibbed groove 21.

The base 12 is shown as having a shouldered portion 36 abutting the end 11 of the socket assembly 19 and as having a cylindrical wall portion 37 defining the inner margin of the shouldered portion 36. The cylindrical wall portion 37 has a groove 39 extending therealong and engageable with the embossment 25 to prevent turning of the base and to register the spade terminals 13 with the contacts 29.

The spade terminals 13 extend through suitable apertures formed in the base 12 into the socket body 10 and have inwardly extending end portions 38, which form seats for the springs 27.

In assembling each spade terminal 13 in the base 12, cuts 40 are made in an inner wall 39 of the base, parallel to the inner end portions 38 of the spade terminals 13 at the same time the inner end portions 38 of the spade terminals are staked to the base. This forces the nylon material of the base against the flat sides of the spade terminals and seals the spade terminals to the base.

The insulator cup 26 has a generally cylindrical wall 41 extending from the closed end wall 30 of said insulator cup towards the base 12, when the socket is assembled. The cylindrical wall 41 has a slot 42 extending along the outer side thereof and registrable with the embossment 25. The embossment 25 thus forms a guide for the insulator cup 26 and also indexes the contacts 29. with respect to the inner end portions 38 of the spade terminals 13.

Each contact 29 is shown as being of a cup-like shape mounted in the wall 3t} of the insulator cup 26 for lim- 'ed movement with respect thereto and having a contact surface or disk 43 engaging the outer side of the wall 30, and a cylindrical wall 44 spaced inwardly of the periphery of the contact surface and extending through the wall 30. The outer end portion of the cylindrical Wall 44 is staked outwardly as indicated by reference character 45. The staking 45 is spaced from the inner side of the wall 39 to accommodate free movement of the contact with respect to the wall 30.

The compression springs 27. are made from a suitable conducting material, as has previously been mentioned, and extend along and are seated on the inner projecting portions 38 of the spade terminals 13 and extend within the cylindrical walls of the contacts 29 and are seated therein.

In assembling the socket assembly, assuming the socket body plate 20 has been rolled to its cylindrical form and the gibbed tongue 1? is in engagement with the gibbed groove 21 and has been brazed or otherwise secured thereto, the. insulator cup 26, with the contacts 29 therein and staked to be retained in said insulator cup, is then inserted into the socket assembly from the base end thereof with the groove 42 slidably moving along the embossment 25. The springs 27 may then be mounted on the inward extensions 38 of the spade terminals 13 and retained thereto. The base 12 may then be moved towards the base end of the socket body 10 and during this movement the inner ends of the springs 27 may first be seated within the cylindrical wall portions 44- of the contacts 2?. The groove 39 in the base 12 may then be registered with the inward embossment 25 and the base may be moved along said embossment into position on the base end of the socket body. The tangs 23 may then be bent inwardly and securely staked to the V-shaped recessed portions 24 of the base 12. The socket will now be assembled and ready to have a lamp bulb 16 inserted therein and retained thereto by the bayonet slots 17 and 18, in a conventional manner.

While we have herein shown and described one form in which our invention may be embodied, it may readily be understood that various modifications and variations in the invention may be attained without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a socket assembly, an open ended socket body having a generally cylindrical inner wall having a base end and a socket end and having a guide extending axially along the base end and a stop adjacent the base end and spaced circumferentially from said guide, an in sulator cup slidable within said body from the base end thereof, slidably engaging and indexed by said guide and having a stop portion engageable with said stop and limiting movement of said insulator cup towards the socket end of said socket body, at least one contact carried by said insulator cup, a shouldered base made from a nonconducting material mounted in the base end of said base and extending within said socket body and having a spade terminal extending therethrough, said base having a cylindrical wall portion extending within said socket body and having an indexing notch therein having interengagement with said guide and indexed thereby to align said spade terminal with said contact, a spring seated at its opposite ends on said spade terminal and said contact, and means staking said base to said socket assembly.

2. In a socket assembly, a generally cylindrical open ended socket body having an inner cylindrical Wall having an elongated embossment extending axially therealong for a portion of the length thereof and having a circumferentially spaced generally spherical embossment, an insulator cup within said body having a generally cysaid base member and having an outer terminal portion lindrical wall having a notch extending therealong registrable with said elongated embossment and having an outer end wall extending across said cylindrical wall having at least one contact mounted therein and extending therethrough, said insulator cup having a notch in the outer wall thereof terminating into a shoulder at the opposite end portion thereof from said end wall, said notch accommodating movement of said insulator cup with respect to said spherical embossment and said spherical embossment being engageable with said shoulder to limit outward movement of said insulator cup, a spring seated in said contact, an insulator base having at least one spade terminal therein extending inwardly of said base and adapted to be seated on said spring, said base having a recessed portion engageable with said elongated embossment and indexing said spade terminal in alignment with said contact and spring, and tangs extending from the end of said socket body adjacent said base and staked into interengagement with said base, to retain said base to said socket body.

3. In a socket assembly, a generally cylindrical open ended socket body having an inner cylindrical wall having an embossment extending axially therealong for a portion of the length thereof and having a circumferentially spaced generally spherical embossment, an insulator cup within said body having a generally cylindrical wall having a notch extending therealong registerable with said elongated embossment and having an outer end wall extending across said cylindrical wall having at least one contact mounted therein and extending therethrough, said insulator cup having a notch in the outer wall thereof terminating into a shoulder at the opposite end portion thereof from said end wall, said notch accommodating movement of said insulator cup with respect to said spherical embossment and said spherical embossment eing engageable with said shoulder to limit outward movement of said insulator cup, a spring seated in said contact, an insulator base having at least one spade terminal therein extending inwardly of said base and adapted to be seated on said spring, said base having a recessed portion engageable with said elongated embossment and indexing said spade terminal in alignment with said contact and spring, at least two tangs projecting from the end of said socket body adjacent said base, and recesses on the outer side of said base registerable with said tangs, said tangs having staking engagement with said recesses for retaining said socket assembly in assembled relation.

4. A socket assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said socket body has bayonet jointlike slots opening to the opposite end thereof from said base and has axially extending embossments extending along the socket end portion of inner cylindrical wall thereof between said slots, for retaining a lamp socket to said socket body.

5. A socket assembly in accordance with claim 3 wherein said inner cylindrical wall of said socket body has spaced axially extending embossments extending along said wall from the opposite end of the socket body from the first mentioned embossment, for a portion of the length of said wall, and has bayonet like slots opening to the same end of said cylindrical wall as said spaced axially extending embossments to retain a light bulb to said socket body.

6. In a socket assembly, a generally cylindrical socket body having a base end and a lamp socket end, a nonconducting base member having a cylindrical body extending inwardly of said base end of said socket body and having an outer end portion engaging the base end of said socket body, a spade terminal extending through and inner conducting and spring seating portion, a coil spring extending along said inner conducting portion and seated thereon, and insulator cup slidably movable along said socket body and having a closed end and a cylindrical wall extending from said closed end towards the base of the socket, a cup shaped contact member mounted in said closed end and having a disk-like contact on the outer side of said closed end and a cylindrical wall portion extending from said disk-like contact and having said spring seated therein, bayonet joint-like slots extending along the lamp socket end of said socket body, an elongated embossment extending inwardly of and axially along the base end of the socket body and indexing said insulator cup and base member and forming a guide for said insulator cup, and another embossment extending inwardly of the base end portion of the socket body and limiting movement of said insulator cup towards the lamp receiving end of said socket body.

7. In a socket assembly, a generally cylindrical socket body having a base end and a lamp socket end, a nonconducting base member having a cylindrical body extending inwardly of said base end of said socket body and having an outer end portion engaging the base end of said socket body, a spade terminal extending through said base member and having an outer terminal portion and inner conducting and spring seating portion, a coil spring extending along said inner conducting portion and seated thereon, an insulator cup slidably movable along said socket body and having a closed end and a cylindrical wall extending from said closed end towards the base of the socket body, a cup shaped contact member mounted in said closed end and having a disk-like contact on the outer side of said closed end and a cylindrical wall portion extending from said disk-like contact and having said spring seated therein, bayonet joint-like slots extending along the lamp socket end of said socket body, an elongated embossment extending inwardly of and axially along the base end of the socket body and indexing said insulator cup and base member and forming a guide for said insulator cup, and another embossment extending inwardly of the base end portion of the socket body and limiting movement of said insulator cup towards the lamp receiving end of said socket body, said outer end portion of said base member having spaced recesses therein, and said base end of said socket body having tangs extending therefrom and engaging and staked to said recesses.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,610,128 12/26 Godley 339-488 1,953,593 4/34 Douglas 339-188 1,985,024 12/34 Douglas 339--188 2,959,761 11/60 Weber et a1. 339-188 FOREIGN PATENTS 521,823 5/40 Great Britain. 741,90-8 12/55 Great Britain.

JOSEPH D. SEERS, Primary Examiner.

DONLEY J. STOCKING, Examiner, 

1. IN A SOCKET ASSEMBLY, AN OPEN ENDED SOCKET BODY HAVING A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL INNER WALL HAVING A BASE END AND A SOCKET END AND HAVING A GUIDE EXTENDING AXIALLY ALONG THE BASE END AND A STOP ADJACENT THE BASE END AND SPACED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY FROM SAID GUIDE, AN INSULATOR CUP SLIDABLY WITHIN SAID BODY FROM THE BASE END THEREOF, SLIDABLY ENGAGING AND INDEXED BY SAID GUIDE AND HAVING A STOP PORTION ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID STOP AND LIMITING MOVEMENT OF SAID INSULATOR CUP TOWARDS THE SOCKET END OF SAID SOCKET BODY, AT LEAST ONE CONTACT CARRIED BY SAID INSULATOR CUP, A SHOULDERED BASE MADE FROM A NONCONDUCITNG MATERIAL MOUNTED IN THE BASE END OF SAID BASE AND EXTENDING WITHIN SAID SOCKET BODY AND HAVING A SPADE TERMINAL EXTENDING THERETHROIUHG, SAID BASE HAVING A CYLINDRICAL WALL PORTION EXTENDING WITHIN SAID SOCKET BODY AND HAVING AN INDEXING NOTCH THEREIN HAVING INTERENGAGEMENT WITH SAID GUIDE AND INDEXED THEREBY TO ALIGN SAID SPADE TERMINAL WITH SAID CONTACT, A SPRING SEATED AT ITS OPPOSITE ENDS ON SAID SPADE TERMINAL AND SAID CONTACT, AND MEANS STAKING SAID BASE TO SAID SOCKET ASSEMBLY. 